Buoyant ferry firm sails into line-up
French ferry company LD Lines has entered The News Business Excellence Awards.
The company, which took on the Portsmouth-to-Le Havre route after P & O Ferries pulled out of its crossings to France from Portsmouth in 2005, has seen ever-increasing passenger numbers.
And recently it showed major confidence in the route by announcing that it had agreed to buy a new ferry with an option to buy a second if passenger numbers justify the expense.
This new ferry, which is being built in Singapore, will fit 900 passengers, plus 100 trucks and have 160 cabins and should be ready by May 2010.
LD Lines is entering in the innovation category and is considering the team category as well.
The reason for the innovation entry is because of its concept of the sleeper seats – the sorts of seats normally seen on long-haul flights. The ambition of the company was to make travelling on ferries far more comfortable than travelling on budget airlines, which are increasingly regarded as congested.
General manager of LD Lines Christophe Santoni said: 'The industry must be able to compete with the airlines, and that was what we did when we developed this concept of the Pullman lounge with these first-class-type reclining seats and showers, but not at the price of cabins.
'We do believe that's how we can recapture some people.'
The latest statistics on passenger traffic on LD Lines' ferry service have shown a 12 per cent jump for the first half of the year. Between January and July this year more than 165,000 passengers travelled on the service, compared with more than 147,000 for the same period last year.
The same period also saw nearly 10,000 more vehicles – a 17 per cent rise – carried by its ferry Norman Spirit.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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